Cat Got Your Tongue, Batman?

While each Selina Kyle created the "Cat" alias which they made famous as "Cookie Cutter Counterparts", they were far from alone. They each had a couple of male  cat-contemporaries, johnnies-come-lately in the supervillain set. 

Thomas Blake was world-renowned for his fierce hunting skills, and like other hunters in fiction he set his eye on that most dangerous of prey, man. Specifically, a Dark Knight who himself had previously faced mostly intellectual foes, but not a physical peer.

Donning the uniform of Earth-One's Catman, Blake alleged that his specialized mask he obtained from an expedition had granted him the power of nine lives. And indeed it seemed to work, as each time his life was threatened he returned stronger and willier than before

On his second outing, Thomas Blake found himself fixated with Batwoman and convinced her to don a costume and become his queen of cats. This would be a second version of Cat-woman. However, this was merely a ploy to locating Blake's hideout and leading the Dynamic Duo there in order to help her capture Catman and his henchmen. 

The first to copy Selina's act and become a Cat-man appeared was the King of Cats. This was the long-lost and here-to-fore unmentioned brother of the then retired Catwoman of Earth-Two. Karl Kyle wanted to ride on the coattails (cat-o-nine-tails?) of his sister's previous success, not fully comprehending she usually escaped more due to Batman's affection for her than for her outmatching him in their duels. Soon he became a crime king of Gotham City, but only for a brief period. After Catwoman saved his life and showed him the folly of his ways, he retired and upon parole was able to attend his sister's wedding to Bruce Wayne.

Back on Earth-One, that Batman bested Catman thrice in the silver age, and later after an outing versus the Freedom Fighters aided by his specially talented "Tomcats", each with a specific cat-related ability. Moving to the midwest to avoid the Batman, Blake found that Uncle Sam and his allies were to much for him, leading him to another defeat. Interestingly, decades earlier, Cat-Man’s counterpart the Catman named Silky Cernak worked alongside Catwoman as one of her primary henchmen along with Lionmane during the early 1950s, prior to her retirement from crime. He would return years later, in a fatal encounter with Mrs. Selina Kyle Wayne.

Catman later reappeared, this time stealing ancient  urns from Egyptian which contained rare herbs of considerable value. In the process, he once more faced Batman as well as finally encountering Catwoman herself. Attempting to sell them to a Grecian businessman in order to obtain a valuable island to be used for criminals, Catman ended up falling in a geyser during a rematch with the Bat and the Cat. However, 

The Tom-Cats of Earth-Two were led by Silky Cernak. Himself a henchmen of his world's Catwoman while she was a criminal, Cernak pursued her after having served years in prison. Blackmailing the now Selina Wayne back into a life in crime so as not to sully her family's name by a photoshopped picture that allegedly showed Kyle of murdering an individual, this led to a confrontation with Selina's husband in his Batman alter ego. Ultimately, it was Silky as Catman who accidentally shot his former boss, leading to the death of Mrs. Wayne. After evading the law following this encounter, Silky was cornered by Batman and Catwoman's daughter the Huntress.

While that golden age Catwoman and her Cat-henchman were all business, such wasn't the case with the aforementioned silver age Batwoman and Catman. These two still had some chemistry, stymied by Thomas' longing to pursue a criminal career that kept him on the wrong side of the law. 

On Earth-One, Karl Kyle pursued a costumed career as the Cat, which brought him into conflict with Hawk and Dove on one occasion. Unlike the other Karl, this one never professed a relationship with his sister, merely copying her act away from Gotham City.

Whether Thomas Blake or Silky Cernak... whether Kathy Kane or Karl Kyle, or their counterparts... were significant influences in the lives of the Batmen... it remains true that the original Catwomen were the true standard-bearers of ferocious feline foes for the Caped Crusaders on twin worlds.